January 19-21, 2019 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 “THE GLORY OF THE LORD IS REVEALED!

EPIPHANY 2

January 19-21, 2019

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

“THE GLORY OF THE LORD IS REVEALED!

1.     In us.

2.     Through us.

1 Corinthians 12:1-11 (NIV) “Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant. ²You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. ³Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. ⁴There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. ⁵There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. ⁶There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. ⁷Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. ⁸To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, ⁹to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, ¹⁰to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.”

The word Epiphany means to make manifest or to reveal. And so you have heard how in Gospel lessons how Jesus was revealed to be the Savior of all at the little Christmas visit of the Wise Men from the East. And last week you heard how Jesus was revealed to be the real God sent and appointed Messiah at His Baptism. Today’s Gospel showed how Jesus revealed He is truly God in His first miracle. The account of Jesus’ first miracle concludes with the words,  “He revealed his glory and his disciples believed in him.” Do you remember the first time you heard about Jesus’ first miracle? Maybe as a little child sitting on your mother’s lap or on the hallway carpet just before you went to bed? It sounded so cool, so big. And then you got older and you no longer heard God’s word with the ears, heart and faith of a child and maybe you wondered, “Why this for the first miracle? Water into wine? The need is not great. The wow factor is missing. Most of the people there didn’t even know what was going on.” Where is the glory in that?

          That can be a Christian struggle, can’ it, the Lord reveals His glory as He wishes but we long for something more, bigger, the way we want it. I’m hoping I’m not the only one who sometimes just wants Jesus to come down here and teach people a lesson. All this questioning of what God says, all this defiant mockery of Jesus, all this misplaced values where people of our country throw big bucks at sports stars and entertainers and Gospel work goes begging. If only the Lord would do some of that fire from heaven, or turning into pillars of salt or even just striking someone with leprosy once in a while, that would teach them. Then they’d fear Him. Show your glory!  And yet the word clearly points out that the greatest glory of God is not revealed in God’s punishment of sin, but in His forgiveness. I invite you to come with me, brothers and sisters, back to your mother’s laps, or the chair around the kitchen table or the upstairs carpet, wherever you had your Bible stories as a kid and renew your sense of awe at the way the Lord reveals his glory because 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 reminds us that the glory of the Lord is being revealed in a surprising way: in us and through us!

          “Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant. ²You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. ³Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.” As you know the church at Corinth was a sick church in a sick city. Corinth was that time’s sin city. If you think America is bad we have a long way to go to sink to the depths of sexual depravity of Corinth. And they were proud of their sexual filth. The church at Corinth was sick in a different way. It was marred by a lack of unity. There were factions and cliques in the congregation. They were immature spiritually. They needed a God’s eye view of spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts are just what they sound like. Gifts that come from the Holy Spirit.

          Most important among those gifts is the ability to believe in Jesus as Savior. The Corinthian Christians had been idol worshipers. But now they were believers in Jesus. How did that happen? The Holy Spirit went to work in their hearts. That’s the glory of the Lord. More impressive than changing water into wine, greater than raising a dead person is changing an unbelieving heart into a believing one, a spiritually dead person to spiritually living one. That happened in you and me. When is the last time you just pondered the fact that the Holy Spirit’s work in you pulled you out of Hell or do you like me have to sadly confess that you probably felt more relief that the cop you passed going 10 mph over didn’t pull out after you? Sometimes we are going to look at ourselves or each other and wonder where the glory of the Lord is as we continue to struggle with the same sins, or struggle or work or financially when the unbelievers seem to prosper. But then remember that God’s glory is revealed chiefly in the forgiveness of sin. Not its punishment. The glory of the Lord is revealed in us as the Holy Spirit works faith. Don’t overlook it or take it for granted!

And then marvel that the glory of the Lord is revealed through us. “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. ⁵There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. ⁶There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. ⁷Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. ⁸To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, ⁹to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, ¹⁰to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.”

Unfortunately I have a daughter studying to be a nurse. I say unfortunately because she just loves to share all the details of the way the human body works with her parents. I really don’t need to know all that. Some body stuff is just gross. But when you listen and reflect you find yourself thinking, “Who could come up with this? It is just magnificent how some 2000 body parts work for the common good and how just one hurting body part can affect so many others. That amazing way God has put the body together is a picture of how God has put us together to reveal His glory. In addition to the spiritual gift of faith the Holy Spirit has given to each of us spiritual gifts to reveal God’s glory to others. Some of you are good at speaking, some at inviting, some at singing, some at making music, some at working and fixing, some at helping others, some at teaching, some at giving, but all for the common good so we can carry out the mission of Jesus to reveal the glory of the Lord that He forgives sins through Jesus.

And these aren’t just at church gifts. You carry the glory of the Lord with you wherever you are. It is revealed as fathers use Jesus name at home, but not in vain, to teach their children to know and love Him. It is revealed when you tell your co worker how you deal with difficult issues, calmly trusting in God who has given you Jesus. It is revealed by your light of the world living where faithful working and good neighboring draws others to Jesus. The glory of the Lord is revealed through us, in different ways in different people with different gifts but always the same goal, the common good, forgiveness of sins in Jesus.

Is that going to cause a wow factor? Are we going to be able to charge $500 for front row seats here? Will paparazzi hound you and fans swarm you for your autograph as a Christian? Probably not.  But the day is coming when the glory of the Lord revealed so quietly by Jesus at Cana and in us and through us now and is recognized only by believers will be revealed for all when every knee will bow before Jesus and the unbelievers will sadly say, “You were right. God help us.” Amen.